Bush-Gore legal pair push gay marriage suit

Published 4:00 am, Sunday, May 31, 2009

Former Mayor Willie Brown poses for a portrait at his apartment in the St. Regis Hotel on Thursday July 31, 2008 in San Francisco, Calif.

Former Mayor Willie Brown poses for a portrait at his apartment in the St. Regis Hotel on Thursday July 31, 2008 in San Francisco, Calif.

Photo: Mike Kepka, The Chronicle

Bush-Gore legal pair push gay marriage suit

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The most significant lawsuit in the nation's courts right now is the one filed in San Francisco by that pair of high-powered attorneys looking to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide.

The very conservative Theodore Olson, George W. Bush's solicitor general and the lawyer who helped Bush prevail in the 2000 fight over who won Florida, is teaming up with David Boies, the guy who represented Al Gore in that fight.

Their suit basically says gays' and lesbians' desire to marry is an equal-rights issue. It hits the discrimination argument head-on.

It promises to be the Brown vs. Board of Education of the gay-rights movement. Of course, there is the possibility that Topeka will win this time: That's certainly the fear of groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, which don't see the federal courts as friendly to same-sex marriage proponents and fear a loss that could set them back years.

Olson and Boies, however, come from two of the biggest law firms in the country. They have major donors bankrolling the case. Look for this one to be before the Supreme Court within two years.

A fabulous pick for the U.S. Supreme Court, although we have to be honest - her first appointment to the bench back in 1991 was political and typical of the compromises made when you have both a Republican senator, in this case Al D'Amato, and a Democrat, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, from the same state, in this case New York. Her comments about Latina women having more smarts than white men won't kill her, but, as Ricky Ricardo used to say, she will have some " 'splaining to do."

So barring any problems with her taxes or something else we don't know about, she's in.

The restaurant empire that Gavin Newsom used to run is hitting hard times. PlumpJack Cafe is closed now. I don't know what they plan to do, but they've got a sign up that says, "Restaurant available" - right down to the dishes. Jack Falstaff is closed as well.

I've been playing emcee again.

Last Saturday it was up to the Sonoma Jazz Festival, where Darius Anderson had asked me to introduce Lyle Lovett. The outdoor setting for the festival was fabulous. The audience was all Napa and Sonoma Valley people, and they all looked like they just stepped out of the Gap.

Then it was back to San Francisco for a great night of song and "sunshine" at Davies Symphony Hall, with Sting and many others taking the stage for the "Let the Sunshine In" benefit for Christopher Rodriguez - the boy paralyzed by a robber's stray bullet while he was taking a piano lesson - and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

The ticket line stretched for three blocks. They had to delay the concert for half an hour just to get everyone seated.

The crowd was a mix of hip-hoppers, jazz fans and Grateful Dead alumni. And the entertainers, from Marilyn McCoo to Bobby Weir, clearly were enjoying themselves. Almost every number became a jam session of some sort, with a youth orchestra backing the whole show.

But I have to tell you, the entertainers were serious about their work, too. This was not a place for a clown. So when it was my time to get on stage with Sting, I dropped any thought of singing and just thanked everyone and got off as quickly as I could.

I went to the movie house in One Embarcadero Center to check out "The Soloist." It's definitely headed for the Academy Awards.

The safest place in San Francisco has to be the Starbucks down at Eighth and Townsend streets. Every morning there are at least 25 S.F. cops, California Highway Patrol officers and traffic control officers - and one woman in spandex from the gym next door feeling very, very secure.